All-Star Weekend Festivities

Featured Image from @BleacherReport on Twitter

Saturday night was the annual NBA All-Star Skills Challenge, Three Point contest, and Slam Dunk contest highlighted by several young and veteran players. Fans from all over the world tuned in to watch the NBA;s very best compete in competition to prove who really is the cream of the crop.

Skills Challenge: The first event was the Skills challenge. Early off it was very contested as fans seen matchups like Jayson Tatum vs Mike Conley, Luka Doncic vs Kyle Kuzma, Nikola Jokic vs Nikola Vucevic, and the highly anticipated matchup of De’Aaron Fox vs Trae Young.

Jayson Tatum looked like an ultimate stud going through the Skills Challenge. His shot was completely on fire and he was looking to pull away early with a win. The only man who was in his way was Trae Young who was balling out in the Skills Challenge with a completely dead eye range was knocking em down on his match ups. Tatum ultimately pulled away with the win against Trae Young sealing the deal with a half court shot to become the 2019 NBA All-Star Skills Champion.

Three Point Competition: After the Skills Challenge was over shooters from around the league competed in the annual Three Point Contest. The contest was highlighted with several big names like Steph Curry, Dirk Nowitzki, Devin Booker, and Damian Lillard just to name a few. In the earlier round quite a few players started off slow, but a couple players who stood out were Brooklyn Nets Joe Harris who right out of the gate was scorching and started off with a huge 25 points. Followed shortly by Sacramento Kings Buddy Hield who had 26, then of course who else but Golden State Warriors Steph Curry who lit up the board and scored 27 points.

Championship Round came up and Harris continued to rain in three’s as he dropped 26 in his second attempt. Buddy Hield had a rather weak showing in the championship round, whereas Steph Curry was the one who gave Joe Harris a scare. That was until Steph realized he finished off with 25 points and Harris beat him by 1, making Joe Harris the 2019 NBA All-Star Three Point contest winner.

In the first round the four athletes competed and only the top two would move on for the championship. Collins had himself 40 points, followed by Diallo’s 48, then Smith Jr had himself 45, and lastly Bridges finished with 33. After everyone got their first dunk jitters out of the way the show really began. Hamidou Diallo and Dennis Smith Jr had a complete highlight reel of a night jumping over NBA Legends and Hip Hop Rappers and even a few assists from their teammates. The dunk that stood out the most was Diallo’s dunk over Shaquille O’Neal to propel him to first, while Smith Jr showcased some serious elevation jumping over J. Cole for the emphatic one hand slam. In the end Hamidou Diallo took home the Slam Dunk Contest and is your 2019 All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Champion.